Alien Hand Syndrome ( Mental Disorder)

Alien Hand Syndrome ( Mental Disorder)

Alien hand syndrome (sometimes used synonymously with anarchic hand is a neurological disorder in which the afflicted person's hand appears to take on a mind of its own. Alien hand syndrome is best d...ocumented in cases where a person has had the two hemispheres of their brain surgically separated, a procedure sometimes used to relieve the symptoms of extreme cases of epilepsy. It also occurs in some cases after other brain surgery, strokes, or infections. Other areas of the brain that are associated with alien hand syndrome are the frontal, occipital and parietal lobes.

Anarchic hand syndrome and alien hand syndrome are two similar but separate disorders. In both there are unintended but purposeful and autonomous movements of the upper limb and intermanual conflict. Anarchic hand is usually diagnosed as opposed to alien hand syndrome because it tends to be more associated with motor impairments as the patients acknowledge the hand as theirs but are frustrated by its unintended actions. In alien hand syndrome the individual tends to display more sensory deficits as they dissociate themselves from the hand and its actions, frequently remarking on the hand's behaviour as if it does not belong to them. Having no control over “Alien hands”, they can perform complex acts such as undoing buttons, removing clothing, and manipulation of tools.